2021 Global 250: The World's Largest Patent Holders
The Global 250 is an Ultimate Owner ranking, providing a complete view of an entity's global patent holdings, including patented technologies held by an entity's subsidiaries or majority-owned companies. Rather than looking at the grants received in a single year, such as the Top 50 ranking, the Global 250 presents the cumulative and active technology holdings in an entity's patent portfolio for a given year.
| Rank | Ultimate Owner | Active Families | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samsung Electronics Co Ltd | 90,416 | |
| 2 | Chinese Academy of Sciences CAS | 78,415 | |
| 3 | Midea Group Co Ltd | 58,495 | |
| 4 | Huawei Investment and Holding Co Ltd | 48,307 | |
| 5 | China Petrochemical Corp | 45,362 | |
| 6 | China State Construction Engineering Corp Ltd CSCEC | 42,715 | |
| 7 | Gree Electric Appliances Inc of Zhuhai | 42,077 | |
| 8 | International Business Machines Corp | 41,937 | |
| 9 | Canon Inc | 40,706 | |
| 10 | Panasonic Corp | 37,538 | |
| 11 | China National Petroleum Corp | 36,347 | |
| 12 | Robert Bosch GmbH | 35,169 | |
| 13 | Hitachi Ltd | 34,408 | |
| 14 | Siemens AG | 33,877 | |
| 15 | Microsoft Corp | 32,173 | |
| 16 | Tsinghua University | 31,368 | |
| 17 | BBK Electronics Co Ltd | 30,734 | |
| 18 | Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd | 29,402 | |
| 19 | BOE Technology Group Co Ltd | 29,071 | |
| 20 | General Electric Co | 27,584 | |
| 21 | LG Electronics Inc | 27,378 | |
| 22 | Toyota Motor Corp | 27,288 | |
| 23 | Sony Group Corp | 26,910 | |
| 24 | Intel Corp | 25,784 | |
| 25 | TCL Corp | 24,375 | |
| 26 | China Railway Construction Corp Ltd CRCC | 23,949 | |
| 27 | Fujifilm Holdings Corp | 23,851 | |
| 28 | Qualcomm Inc | 23,351 | |
| 29 | Raytheon Technologies Corp | 23,062 | |
| 30 | China Railway Group Ltd CREC | 22,863 | |
| 31 | Alphabet Inc | 22,822 | |
| 32 | Nokia Oyj | 22,708 | |
| 33 | Mitsubishi Electric Corp | 22,041 | |
| 34 | Zhejiang University ZJU | 21,805 | |
| 35 | Volkswagen AG | 20,710 | |
| 36 | Honda Motor Co Ltd | 20,531 | |
| 37 | Apple Inc | 20,491 | |
| 38 | Toshiba Corp | 20,053 | |
| 39 | Tencent Holdings Ltd | 19,844 | |
| 40 | Koninklijke Philips NV | 19,546 | |
| 41 | Ford Motor Co | 19,410 | |
| 42 | Lenovo Group Ltd | 19,406 | |
| 43 | ZTE Corp | 19,126 | |
| 44 | Fujitsu Ltd | 18,475 | |
| 45 | General Motors Co | 17,900 | |
| 46 | Seiko Epson Corp | 17,563 | |
| 47 | Denso Corp | 17,521 | |
| 48 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co TSMC Ltd | 16,739 | |
| 49 | Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB | 16,508 | |
| 50 | HP Inc | 15,816 | |
| 51 | Haier Smart Home Co Ltd | 15,373 | |
| 52 | Honeywell International Inc | 15,127 | |
| 53 | Ricoh Co Ltd | 14,446 | |
| 54 | Dell Technologies Inc | 14,413 | |
| 55 | Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd | 14,140 | |
| 56 | Johnson and Johnson | 13,984 | |
| 57 | Medtronic PLC | 13,902 | |
| 58 | Broadcom Inc | 13,675 | |
| 59 | NEC Corp | 13,600 | |
| 60 | Oracle Corp | 13,303 | |
| 61 | Texas Instruments Inc | 13,264 | |
| 62 | Boeing Co | 13,001 | |
| 63 | Continental AG | 12,511 | |
| 64 | Amazon com Inc | 12,484 | |
| 65 | Infineon Technologies AG | 12,251 | |
| 66 | BYD Co Ltd | 12,246 | |
| 67 | Cisco Systems Inc | 12,215 | |
| 68 | Hyundai Motor Co | 11,898 | |
| 69 | Brother Industries Ltd | 11,771 | |
| 70 | Kyocera Corp | 11,573 | |
| 71 | China Electronics Technology Group Corp CETC | 11,504 | |
| 72 | Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp Group | 11,449 | |
| 73 | Bayer AG | 11,425 | |
| 74 | Xiaomi Corp | 11,379 | |
| 75 | SEB SA | 11,121 | |
| 76 | Zhejiang University of Technology ZJUT | 11,053 | |
| 77 | BASF SE | 10,936 | |
| 78 | China Baowu Steel Group Corp Ltd | 10,827 | |
| 79 | Safran SA | 10,709 | |
| 80 | NXP Semiconductors NV | 10,696 | |
| 81 | Valeo SA | 10,566 | |
| 82 | Airbus SE | 10,305 | |
| 83 | Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd | 10,148 | |
| 84 | Stellantis NV | 10,100 | |
| 85 | China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd | 10,040 | |
| 86 | Aviation Industry Corp of China AVIC | 9,919 | |
| 87 | LG Display Co Ltd | 9,858 | |
| 88 | Procter and Gamble Co | 9,774 | |
| 89 | Olympus Corp | 9,680 | |
| 90 | BlackBerry Ltd | 9,624 | |
| 91 | SK Hynix Inc | 9,530 | |
| 92 | Western Digital Corp | 9,473 | |
| 93 | 3M Co | 9,472 | |
| 94 | Goertek Inc | 9,413 | |
| 95 | Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd | 9,384 | |
| 96 | STMicroelectronics NV | 9,179 | |
| 97 | Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd | 9,059 | |
| 98 | Micron Technology Inc | 9,049 | |
| 99 | Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co | 8,961 | |
| 100 | Konica Minolta Inc | 8,942 | |
| 101 | AT&T Inc | 8,925 | |
| 102 | SAP SE | 8,270 | |
| 103 | Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp | 8,231 | |
| 104 | Renesas Electronics Corp | 8,220 | |
| 105 | Corteva Inc | 8,215 | |
| 106 | Xerox Holdings Corp | 8,172 | |
| 107 | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd | 8,157 | |
| 108 | TDK Corp | 8,030 | |
| 109 | Dalian University of Technology | 7,932 | |
| 110 | Nike Inc | 7,907 | |
| 111 | AU Optronics Corp | 7,893 | |
| 112 | National Research Council of Science and Technology | 7,803 | |
| 113 | Baidu Inc | 7,729 | |
| 114 | Datang Telecom Technology Co Ltd | 7,722 | |
| 115 | Halliburton Co | 7,711 | |
| 116 | Alibaba Group Holding Ltd | 7,512 | |
| 117 | GlobalFoundries Inc | 7,508 | |
| 118 | Schlumberger Ltd | 7,468 | |
| 119 | Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics | 7,373 | |
| 120 | Baker Hughes Holdings LLC | 7,269 | |
| 121 | Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co Ltd XCMG | 7,172 | |
| 122 | Nissan Motor Co Ltd | 7,131 | |
| 123 | Industrial Technology Research Institute ITRI | 7,045 | |
| 124 | China University of Mining and Technology CUMT | 7,014 | |
| 125 | Caterpillar Inc | 6,994 | |
| 126 | Thales SA | 6,975 | |
| 127 | Commissariat a lEnergie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives CEA | 6,943 | |
| 128 | LG Chem Ltd | 6,894 | |
| 129 | Dow Inc | 6,893 | |
| 130 | ZF Friedrichshafen AG | 6,768 | |
| 131 | Schaeffler AG | 6,624 | |
| 132 | Boston Scientific Corp | 6,473 | |
| 133 | Roche Holding AG | 6,341 | |
| 134 | Kia Corp | 6,331 | |
| 135 | Applied Materials Inc | 6,306 | |
| 136 | Kioxia Holdings Corp | 6,233 | |
| 137 | Abbott Laboratories | 6,222 | |
| 138 | Tokyo Electron Ltd | 6,190 | |
| 139 | TE Connectivity Ltd | 6,098 | |
| 140 | Meta Platforms Inc | 5,976 | |
| 141 | MediaTek Inc | 5,941 | |
| 142 | Bayerische Motoren Werke AG | 5,887 | |
| 143 | Tianma Microelectronics Co Ltd | 5,884 | |
| 144 | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp | 5,772 | |
| 145 | Intellectual Ventures LLC | 5,753 | |
| 146 | Haier Group Corp | 5,731 | |
| 147 | Renault SAS | 5,724 | |
| 148 | Aisin Corp | 5,644 | |
| 149 | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co Ltd | 5,638 | |
| 150 | Verizon Communications Inc | 5,623 | |
| 151 | University of California | 5,603 | |
| 152 | Schneider Electric SE | 5,596 | |
| 153 | Samsung SDI Co Ltd | 5,574 | |
| 154 | Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd | 5,529 | |
| 155 | Emerson Electric Co | 5,446 | |
| 156 | Ams AG | 5,379 | |
| 157 | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS | 5,370 | |
| 158 | Marvell Technology Inc | 5,365 | |
| 159 | CITIC Group Corp | 5,342 | |
| 160 | On Semiconductor Corp | 5,317 | |
| 161 | Changan Automobile Group Co Ltd | 5,223 | |
| 162 | Deere and Co | 5,176 | |
| 163 | Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung eV | 5,175 | |
| 164 | T Mobile US Inc | 5,130 | |
| 165 | AAC Technologies Holdings Inc | 5,082 | |
| 166 | Saudi Arabian Oil Co | 5,076 | |
| 167 | Illinois Tool Works Inc | 5,020 | |
| 168 | Nippon Steel Corp | 5,010 | |
| 168 | Yazaki Corp | 5,010 | |
| 170 | Bridgestone Corp | 4,999 | |
| 171 | Rolls Royce Holdings PLC | 4,998 | |
| 172 | Nidec Corp | 4,911 | |
| 173 | LOreal SA | 4,907 | |
| 174 | Exxon Mobil Corp | 4,847 | |
| 175 | Corning Inc | 4,845 | |
| 176 | Motorola Solutions Inc | 4,834 | |
| 177 | Commscope Holding Co Inc | 4,828 | |
| 178 | Signify NV | 4,701 | |
| 179 | Danaher Corp | 4,686 | |
| 180 | Eaton Corp PLC | 4,654 | |
| 181 | Merck KGaA | 4,643 | |
| 182 | Analog Devices Inc | 4,611 | |
| 183 | Shin Etsu Chemical Co Ltd | 4,600 | |
| 184 | LG Corp | 4,593 | |
| 185 | Siemens Energy AG | 4,581 | |
| 186 | Berkshire Hathaway Inc | 4,458 | |
| 187 | Becton Dickinson and Co | 4,395 | |
| 188 | Vitesco Technologies Group AG | 4,304 | |
| 189 | Omron Corp | 4,297 | |
| 190 | Japan Display Inc | 4,286 | |
| 190 | Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd | 4,286 | |
| 192 | Daikin Industries Ltd | 4,236 | |
| 193 | Seagate Technology PLC | 4,215 | |
| 194 | Aptiv PLC | 4,213 | |
| 195 | Carl Zeiss AG | 4,196 | |
| 196 | Unilever PLC | 4,113 | |
| 197 | Nvidia Corp | 4,103 | |
| 198 | Stanley Black and Decker Inc | 4,100 | |
| 199 | FANUC Corp | 4,098 | |
| 200 | Adobe Inc | 4,096 | |
| 201 | Sanofi SA | 4,084 | |
| 202 | Delta Electronics Inc | 4,050 | |
| 203 | Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp | 4,040 | |
| 204 | Yamaha Motor Co Ltd | 4,029 | |
| 205 | Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc | 3,992 | |
| 206 | Compagnie de Saint Gobain SA | 3,989 | |
| 207 | Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd | 3,985 | |
| 208 | BorgWarner Inc | 3,975 | |
| 209 | CNH Industrial NV | 3,967 | |
| 210 | InterDigital Inc | 3,947 | |
| 211 | Faurecia SA | 3,881 | |
| 212 | Advanced Micro Devices Inc | 3,846 | |
| 213 | Rohm Co Ltd | 3,823 | |
| 214 | Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA | 3,812 | |
| 215 | Novartis AG | 3,807 | |
| 216 | Wistron Corp | 3,801 | |
| 217 | Nitto Denko Corp | 3,760 | |
| 218 | Capital Medical University | 3,739 | |
| 219 | Microchip Technology Inc | 3,737 | |
| 220 | Henkel AG and Co KGaA | 3,718 | |
| 221 | ThyssenKrupp AG | 3,692 | |
| 222 | China Telecommunications Corp | 3,678 | |
| 223 | Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd | 3,662 | |
| 224 | Hisense Home Appliances Group Co Ltd | 3,653 | |
| 225 | VMware Inc | 3,631 | |
| 226 | Samsung Electro Mechanics Co Ltd | 3,627 | |
| 227 | Coolpad Group Ltd | 3,556 | |
| 228 | Evonik Industries AG | 3,529 | |
| 229 | Nikon Corp | 3,492 | |
| 230 | Stryker Corp | 3,488 | |
| 231 | Whirlpool Corp | 3,451 | |
| 232 | Danfoss AS | 3,432 | |
| 233 | Fuji Electric Co Ltd | 3,398 | |
| 234 | Xilinx Inc | 3,344 | |
| 235 | United Microelectronics Corp | 3,333 | |
| 236 | Kobe Steel Ltd | 3,308 | |
| 237 | Amphenol Corp | 3,307 | |
| 238 | Showa Denko KK | 3,301 | |
| 239 | Zhejiang University of Science and Technology ZUST | 3,294 | |
| 240 | Daimler AG | 3,285 | |
| 241 | Zhejiang Ocean University ZJOU | 3,275 | |
| 242 | Merck and Co Inc | 3,253 | |
| 243 | MinebeaMitsumi Inc | 3,243 | |
| 244 | Toray Industries Inc | 3,235 | |
| 245 | Lockheed Martin Corp | 3,189 | |
| 246 | Electrolux AB | 3,181 | |
| 247 | Technicolor SA | 3,178 | |
| 248 | Asahi Kasei Corp | 3,147 | |
| 249 | ASML Holding NV | 3,137 | |
| 250 | Macronix International Co Ltd | 3,135 |
More Details
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From patent search providers like Google to research institutions, IFI's data is trusted worldwide.
Learn more about the terms and methods utilized in this report.
This analysis calculates the world's largest active patent holders, including subsidiaries, as a snapshot in time as of January 4, 2022.
This year's Global 250 was highly affected by the addition of Chinese Snapshots to the IFI Platform and must be considered for comparisons to previous Global 250 rankings. Learn more about IFI Snapshots.
